Seed-grading machine.



E. A. OLIVER.

SEED GRADING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.17, 1913.

' 1,089,433. Patented Mar. 10, 1914.

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Inventor Attorneys Patented Mar. 10, 1914..

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Inventor Attorneys Witnesses ELA'E ALEI-IEUS OLIVER, OF BELLE'VJLLLE,WISCONSIN.

SEED-GRADING MIAOHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. it), 1914.

Application filed March 17, 1913. Serial No. 754,931.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that l", ELAM inrn'nos @LIVER, acitizen of the United Etates, residing at lielleville, in the county ofDane and State of t l iceonsin, have invented a new and useful Seedtjtrading lachine, of which the hallowing is a specification.

This invention relates to separators particularly designed for gradingseed corn and the like, the object being to provide a machine of thischaracter which is simple and compact in construction and will notreadily get out of order.

With the foregoing and other objects in View which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafterdescribed and claimed, it being understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of the invention herein disclosed, can be made within thescope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

In the accompanying drawings the prefer ed form of the invention hasbeen shown.

in said drawings :-Figure 1 a side elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is aplan view thereof. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section on line A-B Fig. C-DFig. EF Fig. 3.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference 1 designates acasing having a fixed top 2 and a hinged top 3, said hinged topextending up to a hopper 4 arranged at one end of the casing. One wallof the hopper is formed of a curved fixed plate 5 while the opposed wallof said hopper consists of a flat plate 6 removably mounted between supporting cleats 7. A discharge opening 8 is formed between the lower edgeportions of the plates 5 and (3 and extends practically throughout thewidth of the hopper. This opening is adapted to receive a bail-like rod9 constituting an agitator and spreader, this rod upstanding from theupper end portion of the upper screen 10 of the separator. This screenis inclined and is disposed between side walls 11 which extend upwardlyand downwardly from the sides of the screen 10 and are connected attheir lower edges by a lower screen 152. The side walls are connected byupper and lower cross strips 13 and 14L and interposed between the crossFig. 5 is a section on line 2. Fig. 41 is a section on line strips 13and 14: at the upper or receiving ends of the screens are spacingsleeves 15 through which extend guide posts 16. These posts extendupwardly from the upper or rear end of an inclined board 17 and springs18 are mounted on the posts and hear at, one end against said board andat their other enos against the adjacent cross strip 1st. Thus the upperends of the screens are yieldingly supported. Pivotally connected to thesides of the housing 1 at points beyond the lower end of the inclinedboard. 17 are posts 19 extending loosely through the adjacent strip 14.-and springs 20 are mounted on these posts and bear downwardly uponcollars 21 on the posts and upwardly against the strip Adjusting nuts 22are mounted on the posts 16 and by means thereof the upper ends of thescreens can be adjusted downwardly so as to place the springs 18 underany desired degree of compression. As shown in Fig. 8 the upper screen10 projects downwardly and forwardly a greater distance than does thelower screen 1 so that tailings from the upper screen will be dischargedbeyond the tailings from the lower screen.

The lower or front strip 14 of the lower screen 12 normally bearsagainst a vertical partition 23 the lower end of which is provided withthe forwardly ext-ending curved lip 24-. A drawer 25 is arranged withinthe front end of the casing and is overhung by the discharge end of thescreen 10. Another drawer 26 is mounted within the front end of thecasing below drawer 25 and extends rearwardly a sufficient distance tobe overhung by the lip 24C. A laterally movable drawer 27 is mounted inone side of the casing or housing 1 and is overhung by the lower end ofthe inclined board 17.

ltemovably mounted within bearings 28 upon the sides of the housing orcasing l is a shaft 29 which can be rotated in any suit able manner, asby means of a crank arm 30. Secured to this shaft are angular blocks 31which bear downwardly on wings or wear plates 82 extending laterallyfrom the side walls" 11 above screen 10. Thus it will be seen that byrotating shaft 29 these blocks will depress the walls 11 in rapidsuccession, said walls being promptly shifted upwardly by the springs 16and 20 as soon as the corpass out of contact with ners of the blocks thewings 82. Thus the screens will be thoroughly agitated and any materialdeposited on them will be kept in motion. Material placed in the hopperwill feed downwardly onto the upper screen and the proper distributionof this material will be insured by the spreading rod 9 which will moveupwardly and downwardly within the opening 8 as the screens areagitated. The material deposited on the upper screen 10 will gra 'itatedownwardly therealong and the finer seeds will drop onto screen 12 whilethe coarser ones will be discharged as tailine's from screen 10 and intothe drawer 25. The material passing through screen 10 will be depositedon screen 12 where a second separation takes place, the larger seedsdischarging tailings from the end of the screen 12 and into the drawer26 while the finer particles will be deposited onto the board 17 andgravitate into the drawer 27.

Should it be desired to remove the screens, the hinged cover 3 can beswung back, the hopper 4;, which is hinged at 33, can be swung backbodily as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, the nuts 22 can beremoved, and the screens lifted off or the posts 16 and 19. It is to beunderstood of course that shaft 29 is removable when it is desired toremove the screens.

TVhat is claimed is In a separator the combinatlon with a casing, of aseed hopper supported upon one.

ent portion of the casing, superposed screens for receiving materialfrom the hopper, the upper screen projecting downwardly beyond one endor the lower screen,

an inclined board under the lower screen, a partition beyond the lowerend of the inclined board and supporting the lower end of the lowerscreen, a removable receptacle extending under the discharge end of theupper screen and spaced from the partition to form passage for tailingsfrom the lower screen, a removable receptacle arranged under the firstnamed receptacle for receiving the railings from said passage, and aremovable receptacle for receiving tailings from the inclined board,said last named receptacle being removable laterally from the casingwhile the remaining receptacles are remorable from one end of thecasing.

In testimony that E claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto attiredmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ELAM ALPHEUS OLIVER. lVitnesses VALERTIN BREULING, NICHOLAS H. GERBER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

